Digital activity center for pets

ABSTRACT

In an aspect, a system includes a touch-sensitive surface and a camera mounted to be movable relative to the touch-sensitive surface to acquire an image of an animal interacting with the touch-sensitive surface. The system includes a processor coupled to a memory, the processor and memory configured to cause each of multiple sections of the display screen to be associated with a corresponding activity in which the animal can engage; detect a selection of one of the multiple sections of the touch-sensitive surface; and enable the activity associated with the selected section of the touch-sensitive surface.

This patent application is a continuation-in-part application of andclaims priority to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/057,894, filedOct. 18, 2014, the contents of which are incorporated here by referencein their entirety.

BACKGROUND

This description relates to assisted animal activities.

Dogs and cats, for example, are capable of a limited amount (compared tohumans) of communication with human beings, and with other animals. Dogsand cats can make sounds and engage in motions that are believed tocommunicate their wishes, needs, reactions, and feelings. In addition,they are believed to be capable of interpreting sounds, fragrances,odors, images, scenes, motions, and other stimuli as communications tothem. This limited communication ability can form the basis of strongbonds, among other things. The love of pet owners for their pets and ofthe pets for their owners is well-known.

Animals are also capable of engaging in a wide variety of activitiesthat could be characterized as training, games and other entertainment,therapy, and others. These activities and others can be facilitated byother animals and human owners, trainers, and handlers.

Electronic devices such as sound systems, televisions, and displaymonitors attached to computers can be used to play audio and videomaterial that may be considered entertaining for pets.

SUMMARY

In an aspect, a system includes a touch-sensitive surface and a cameramounted to be movable relative to the touch-sensitive surface to acquirean image of an animal interacting with the touch-sensitive surface. Thesystem includes a processor coupled to a memory, the processor andmemory configured to cause each of multiple sections of the displayscreen to be associated with a corresponding activity in which theanimal can engage; detect a selection of one of the multiple sections ofthe touch-sensitive surface; and enable the activity associated with theselected section of the touch-sensitive surface.

Embodiments can include one or more of the following features.

The touch-sensitive surface comprises a display screen.

The system includes a display for displaying content associated with theactivity.

The system includes a mount disposed around at least some of the displayscreen, the camera mounted on the mount.

The activity comprises creating an item of visual art. The processor andmemory are configured to enable the animal to interact with thetouch-sensitive surface to indicate elements of the visual art beingcreated. The processor and memory are configured to generate the visualart based on a position of the animal on the touch-sensitive surface, atype of touch of the animal on the touch-sensitive surface, a pressureof the animal's touch on the touch-sensitive surface, or a combinationof any two or more of them.

The activity comprises creating a work of music. The processor andmemory are configured to combine sounds generated by the animal with apreviously created audio file.

The activity comprises watching a video or listening to audio.

The activity comprises playing.

The activity comprises training the animal.

The activity comprises an activity directed to a person associated withthe animal.

The touch-sensitive surface is sized such that the animal can select oneof the multiple sections by walking on the touch-sensitive surface.

The system includes a bottom camera disposed below the touch-sensitivesurface.

The processor and memory are configured to send, to a printer, datarepresentative of an image of the animal interacting with thetouch-sensitive surface, data representative of an image of an item ofvisual art created by the animal's interaction with the touch-sensitivesurface, or both. The processor and memory are configured to determine,based on the animal's interaction with the touch-sensitive surface, whento send the data to the printer. The determination is made based on anamount of time the animal interacted with the touch-sensitive surface, adegree to which the animal completed the activity, or both. The datacomprise information sufficient to print a two-dimensionalrepresentation of the animal or the item of visual art or athree-dimensional representation of the animal or the item of visualart.

The processor and memory are configured to send, to a computing device,data representative of an image of the animal interacting with thetouch-sensitive surface, data representative of an image of an item ofvisual art created by the animal's interaction with the touch-sensitivesurface, or both. The processor and memory are configured to determine,based on the animal's interaction with the touch-sensitive surface, whento send the data to the computing device.

The processor and memory are configured to monitor a physicalcharacteristic of the animal.

In an aspect, a method includes cause each of multiple sections of atouch-sensitive surface to be associated with a corresponding activityof an animal; detect a selection of one of the multiple sections of thetouch-sensitive surface; activate the activity associated with theselected section of the touch-sensitive surface; and acquiring multipleimages of the animal interacting with the touch-sensitive surface duringthe activated activity.

Embodiments can include one or more of the following features.

The method includes displaying content associated with the activity on adisplay screen associated with the touch-sensitive surface. Thetouch-sensitive surface comprises the display screen.

Detecting a selection of the one of the multiple sections comprisesdetecting an interaction of the animal with the touch-sensitive surface.

The method includes sending, to a printer, data representative of animage of the animal interacting with the touch-sensitive screen, datarepresentative of an image of an item of visual art created by theanimal during the activated activity, or both. The method includesdetermining when to send the data to the printer based on the animal'sinteraction with the touch-sensitive surface. The data compriseinformation sufficient to print a three-dimensional representation ofthe animal or the item of visual art.

These and other aspects, features, and implementations, and combinationsof any two or more of them, can be expressed as methods, apparatus,systems, components, methods of doing business, program products, andmeans and steps for performing functions, and in other ways.

These and other aspects, features, and implementations will becomeapparent from the following description, and from the claims.

DESCRIPTION

FIGS. 1 through 15 are block diagrams.

Animal communication can be an important aspect of assisted animalactivities.

As shown in FIG. 1, in some implementations of what we describe here,assisted animal communication 10 includes communication between ananimal 12 and a human 14, for example, a dog or cat and its owner. Thecommunication that we describe here can be used in connection withtraining, games, entertainment, therapy, and other kinds of activitiesto be engaged in by the animals alone, with other animals, or withhumans.

In some cases, we describe examples in which the animal and the humanare not in the same place or cannot otherwise see or hear each other andtherefore cannot communicate directly, for example, when the dog is athome 16 and the owner is at work 18. We describe examples oftechnology-based systems and techniques (together, technology) 20 thatassist the dog to communicate with the owner and vice versa 22 in suchcircumstances. The technology that we describe here, however, can beuseful to assist communication also when the animal and human arelocated in the same place or can see or hear each other directly.

We use the term animal broadly to include, for example, non-humananimals of any kind that are capable of some degree of communication,including primates, dogs, cats, other mammals, and pets, to name a few.We use the term communication broadly to include, for example, anyconveying or comprehension of information, emotions, thoughts, oractions between a human and an animal by any mechanism, device, orcapability (which we will sometimes refer to as artifacts ofcommunication) including any respect in which the human or animal canmove, act, behave, make noise, or otherwise affect its environment (wesometimes refer to these as produced artifacts of communication 19) andany respect in which the human or animal can hear, see, taste, smell,touch, or otherwise sense its environment (we sometimes refer to theseas sensed artifacts of communication 21). Produced artifacts and sensedartifacts can relate to voice, sound, image, motion, activity,fragrance, odor, stimuli, and others, and combinations of them. We usethe term assisted broadly to include, for example, any device or methodthat aids, supplements, processes, accelerates, and in any other wayhelps or enhances the conveying of information, emotions, thoughts, oractions between a human and an animal. We use the term technologybroadly to include, for example, any mechanical, electrical, computer,network, wireless, and other devices and techniques, or combinations ofthem.

We use the term artifacts of communication broadly to include, forexample, any sound, noise, image, motion, odor, fragrance, vibration,action, or other activity, stimulus, or event of any kind, to name afew, that is part of, represents, or could be interpreted or understoodwith respect to a communication.

We use the term activities in its broadest possible sense to include,for example, anything that is done by an animal or human or happens as aresult of anything that is done by an animal or human.

Communication between an animal (say, a dog Fluffy) and a human (say,Fluffy's owner, George) generally requires that the communication byFluffy or George be expressed as produced artifacts that represent thecommunication (Fluffy barks in a certain way, or George snaps hisfingers in a certain way), that sensed artifacts that correspond to theproduced artifacts be received (George hears the barking, or Fluffyhears and sees the finger snapping), and that the recipient of thecommunication be able to understand the communication in a way that thesource of the communication intended (George understands that Fluffywants to go outside, or Fluffy understands that George wants Fluffy tocome to him).

The source of the communication can vary the characteristics of producedartifacts of the communication (such as the volume, duration, frequency,pitch, and style of Fluffy's barking) to impart meaning that, byexperience, seems to be understood by the recipient (Fluffy has learnedthat a certain kind of barking will communicate to George that Fluffywants to go outside). In some cases, the produced artifacts can beinterpreted using speech recognition or recognition of sounds made byanimals. The recipient of the communication can interpret thecharacteristics of the received artifacts as indicating the nature ofthe communication (George has learned, by experience, that a certainkind of barking by Fluffy means she wants to go outside). Thus there isa process by which the sender of the communication learns to formulatethe artifacts to represent the communication so that it will beunderstood effectively and the recipient learns to interpret the correctmeaning of the communication represented by the artifacts.

In direct communication between an animal and a human, for example, apet and its owner, the ability to formulate the produced artifactseffectively and the ability to correctly interpret the sensed artifactsdevelops over time, sometimes subconsciously and sometimes throughtraining, for example.

The technology that we describe here can assist animal communication ina wide variety of ways. In some implementations, the technology assistsanimal communication by providing a store-and-forward function forproduced artifacts. The technology can include devices 23, 25 thatreceive, sense, or capture the produced artifacts of communication fromthe sender and reproduce and deliver versions of the artifacts to therecipient for whom they become sensed artifacts. For example amicrophone (one of the devices 23) at the place where Fluffy is locatedcan pick up her barking. In a simple example, the barking can then bedelivered through a speaker (one of the devices 25) at the place whereGeorge is located (even at the same place where Fluffy is located, insome examples). In some cases, the received artifacts can be passedthrough artifact processing devices 27 and the process artifacts canthen be delivered to the recipient by devices 25. Artifact processingdevices 27 can include any kind of device that is capable of receiving,storing, analyzing, altering, enhancing, processing, and sendinginformation about artifacts. In some instances, artifacts can beretransmitted through a network to pass them to the recipient located ata different location than the sender. In some cases, artifacts can bestored temporarily or for an extended period of time and thenretransmitted to the recipient. For example, video and text derived fromor related to the video or a picture and a message derived from orrelated to the picture can be delivered to a recipient, either the humanor the animal.

For example, Fluffy's barking at 8 AM at his home in Marblehead, Mass.,can be recorded, processed to enhance the quality of the recording, andthen stored. Later, when George wakes up at 8 AM on his business trip toPalo Alto, Calif., the technology can deliver the sound to George's cellphone at his hotel room.

In some examples, as shown in FIG. 2, the artifact processing devices 27can include interpreters 29 that convert, interpret, translate, orotherwise derive the meaning of the communication 31 represented byreceived artifacts, based on information available to the processingdevices. The information available to the processing devices can includethe produced artifacts 19, previously produced artifacts of the samesender 33 (for example recordings of Fluffy barking when she wanted togo outside), previously produced artifacts of other senders 35 (forexample, recordings of other dogs barking when they want to go outside,or videos of a large number of dogs engaging in various kinds ofbehavior, such as barking, pacing, and running), other producedartifacts of the same sender 37 (for example, videos of Fluffy tappingher paw against the door when she wants to go outside), other producedartifacts of other senders 39 (for example, videos of other dogs tappingtheir paws against doors when they want to go outside), supplementalinformation 41 provided by human beings about the behavior of the sender(for example, information provided by George that Fluffy barks and tapsher paws against the door when she wants to go outside, and that shetypically wants to go outdoors between 1 PM and 3 PM every afternoon),data about the context of the produced artifacts 19 such as the timewhen Fluffy was barking, how recently she was barking on the previousoccasion, where Fluffy is located at the moment, and a wide variety ofother information.

Users of the technology 20 (for example owners of pets) can provide someof the supplemental information 41 through interface features of clientdevices to define, explain, illustrate, or otherwise capturerelationships between artifacts of communication and interpretations ofthe artifacts and between communications and artifacts that can be usedto articulate them. For example, George could take videos of Fluffypacing back and forth at times when Fluffy needs to be walked, submitthe videos, and add the information that the videos represent Fluffyneeding to be walked. In that case, the artifacts could be the pacingback and forth, the speed of pacing, the duration of pacing, the extentof pacing, and other characteristics, which can be reflected directly inthe video or explicitly identified by text entry by the user. Thecorresponding interpreted communication would be that Fluffy needs to bewalked. In some cases, George could add video and a voice overlay to thevideo indicating the meaning of what is shown in the video.

Later, during operation of the technology 20, when Fluffy is captured ina video pacing back and forth, the interpreter can use the previouslyentered video and other information as the basis for interpreting thepacing as indicating that Fluffy needs to be walked, if the currentpacing is found to match to some degree the previously provided pacingvideos. To perform the analysis, the interpreter can use a variety ofmathematical and statistical techniques and models. A wide variety ofother kinds of information can be provided by a user such as informationabout the animal (size, age, species, favorite foods, and behavior, toname a few), information about the human, information about theenvironment in which the animal or the human is doing the communicating,and others. The supplemental information can include information about aclass of animals to which the animal belongs, habits of that class ofanimals, behavioral patterns, and many others.

The technology 20 can generate its own information useful in laterinterpretation, for example, by storing information acquired throughclient devices and interface features during the operation of thetechnology, and by storing its analysis and interpretations of thatinformation. For example, the technology 30 could acquire and storevideos, images, audio recordings, text, and other information obtainedfrom animals and humans, could associate artifacts of communication thatoccurred in those stored items with interpretations of thecommunications based on explicit confirmations provided by the humansbased on inference, and could store artifacts that were used tocorrectly articulate communications, and combinations of thoseactivities. The technology 20 can also embed the voice of the owner, ora picture of the owner and the voice of the owner that reflectinterpretations of the content of the artifacts of communication

The interpreters 29 can include processes 43 that use the availableinformation to derive the meaning of the communication 31. The processescan include algorithms, inference engines, models, and a wide variety ofother mathematical, logical, and other processes, and combinations ofthem.

Once the meaning of the communication 31, represented by receivedartifacts, has been derived or determined by the interpreters 29, themeaning can be used in a wide variety of ways.

In some cases, the meaning can be conveyed to the recipient of thecommunication in a form different from the received artifacts. Forexample, if the interpreter determines that the meaning of certainbehavior by Fluffy is that Fluffy wants to go outside, a text message ore-mail or alarm sound can be sent in text or some other form to adesktop computer at George's office to tell him that Fluffy wants to gooutside. In some implementations, the meaning can be conveyed to therecipient at the same time as the artifacts (by playing back Fluffy'sbarking at the same time that the message is displayed to George, forexample).

In some instances, the meaning of the communication can be saved inassociation with the artifacts that relate to the meaning. Theassociation between the meaning and the artifact can then be used by theinterpreters 29 to improve the quality and speed of their interpretationof the meaning of other artifacts received from a sender.

In some implementations, the meaning of the communication can be usedfor a wide variety of purposes other than the direct delivery of themeaning to the recipient. For example, suppose that the meaning of acertain kind of barking done by Fluffy is that Fluffy wants to be fed aCrunchyLunch biscuit. The relationship of that meaning to the certainkind of barking might be aided by information provided by themanufacturer of CrunchyLunch biscuits based on prior associations withcertain kinds of dog barking and its product. In addition, themanufacturer could make an arrangement to pay the host of thetechnology, each time the meaning of the communication has beendetermined as “feed me a CrunchyLunch biscuit”, to send a message toGeorge saying “Fluffy wants to be fed a CrunchyLunch biscuit”. Or themanufacturer could pay the host of the technology to send an onlinecoupon to buy CrunchyLunch biscuits for one dollar off the normal priceof a box.

Some of the discussion above has described how artifacts can beinterpreted as the meanings of communications from the source of theartifacts to a recipient. Conversely, as shown in FIG. 3, the technologycan receive information about the meanings of communications 51 andselect artifacts 53 that will express the communications to the intendedrecipients. For convenience, we call the part of the technology thatperforms this function “articulation devices” (or simply, articulators)29 to capture the idea that the meaning is being articulated inartifacts so as to be understandable by the recipient. The articulatorscan use a wide variety of information, in addition to the meanings ofcommunication, in determining which artifacts 53 to select. Theadditional information can include, for example, similar meanings ofother communications of the same sender and related artifacts 55,similar meanings of other communications of other senders 57 and relatedartifacts, other meanings of other communications of the senders 59 andrelated artifacts, other meanings of other communications of othersenders 61 and related artifacts, and supplemental information 63provided by human beings.

For example, the supplemental information 63 could provide informationthat associates the meanings of communications with artifacts that couldbe useful in articulating those meanings. George could provide data tothe technology explaining that when he wants to send a communication themeaning of which is “the door is open, you can now go outside”, hebelieves that Fluffy will be most responsive if the artifacts used toexpress that meaning include a certain video of him snapping hisfingers. The artifacts can then be embodied in a video of George,recorded on his mobile phone, to be sent to Fluffy.

Conversely, artifacts derived from activities of Fluffy could beassociated with meanings and the meanings could be articulated in theform of videos of Fluffy along with messages from Fluffy to George thatarticulate the meaning. For example, certain artifacts of Fluffy'sbehavior may be interpreted by the technology as representing Fluffyattempting to communicate with George the message “I miss you. Won't youcome home?” The technology could associate the artifacts with thatcommunication. The communication can then be articulated in the form ofa pre-recorded video of Fluffy that George would recognize as conveyingthe message, together with a caption on the video that says “I miss youwant to come home?” The video message can then be sent to George on hismobile phone.

For the purpose of selecting the artifacts that should be used to conveya particular meaning of the communication, the articulators 29 caninclude processes 65 that use the available information to infer,derive, or determine the appropriate artifacts. The processes caninclude algorithms, inference engines, models, and a wide variety ofother mathematical, logical, and other processes, and combinations ofthem.

For example, suppose that George has just awoken in the bedroom of hishouse and Fluffy is in the kitchen wanting to go outside through the dogdoor next to the slider that opens onto the deck. Suppose the dog doorhas an electronic switch that unlocks the door and a light that can beilluminated to tell Fluffy the door is now open and he can go outside.George hears Fluffy barking. George picks up his cell phone, andlaunches the app provided by the technology, taps the option indicatingthat he wants to communicate to Fluffy by unlocking the dog door andturning on the light. The articulators, in this simple example,determine the meaning of the communication from George and then theyselect the best artifacts to articulate or express this communication toFluffy. In this case, the technology sends the commands of theelectronic switch on the dog door, to open the switch, and after theswitch is open, turns on the light to tell Fluffy that the dog door isopen.

In another example, suppose that the meaning of the communication is“try to interest Fluffy in asking for and eating a CrunchyLunchbiscuit,” a communication that may have been received from themanufacturer of CrunchyLunch biscuits. The articulators consider thetime of day, the room where Fluffy is located, information about whetherFluffy has eaten recently, and historical information about thesusceptibility of Fluffy to the communication in that context. Thearticulators decide that the best way to motivate Fluffy is to showFluffy a picture of a box of CrunchyLunch biscuits on a monitor in theliving room where Fluffy is located, and to play the CrunchyLunch jingleon George's sound system in the living room. In addition, non-custommovies of the kind that are sometimes shown to pets could includeadvertising illustrating CrunchyLunch biscuits, playing the CrunchyLunchjingle, and in that way motivating Fluffy to become interested in eatingCrunchyLunch biscuits.

A wide variety of games could be played with animals using thetechnology and with or without a human being present at the locationwhere the game is being played. For example, a command (that can be setto be triggered at a particular time or after a series of other eventsor presentation of digital content) can indicate to the animal that theanimal is to find a treat or toy that had been previously hidden by theowner somewhere near the television (or other source of artifacts) or atany location in the house. The repetition of this command (and “game”)will train the animal to search for the treat or toy and return to theTV. The ability of the technology through cameras or other sensors torecognize when the animal has found the treat or toy (using, forexample, image recognition) can trigger the capture and delivery of animage of the dog to the owner and a message congratulating the animal onthe accomplishment (“good dog, good dog”).

As suggested in this example, the technology could be used in a widevariety of ways to train animals remotely.

As shown in FIG. 5, the technology 20 can be implemented in devices andnetworks that assist communications between two or more communicators100, 102 located anywhere in the world (for example, Fluffy and George).In some implementations, the technology 20 can be organized in aclient-server model in which a host party 120 operates servers 116 thatcommunicate through networks 106 with client devices 108, 110. Thenetworks can be any kind of local or wide area networks, publicnetworks, dial-up telephone networks, wireless or wired networks,cellular telephone networks, the Internet, Wi-Fi, or any other kind ofcommunication network that can carry information related to assistinganimal communication.

The client devices 108, 110, can internally include or externallysupport (or both) interface features 112, 114 (for example, the devices23, 25 of FIG. 1) that enable interactions 113, 115, with animals andhumans or other communicators 102, 104. Each of the client devices canbe associated with one or more than one of the interface features. Theinteractions 113, 115 (for example the artifacts 19, 21 of FIG. 1) caninclude a wide range of interactions such as artifacts of communicationproduced by one of the communicators and sensed, detected, or receivedthrough the interface features; a wide range of noises, sounds, images,video, odors, tactile sensations, flavors, and other stimuli that serveas artifacts of communication to be received and used by one of thecommunicators; and information provided by the communicators throughuser interfaces that are part of the interface features. With respect tothe latter, for example, a communicator (a human or an animal) may beable to enter text, have speech recognized, have gestures recognized,touch user interface elements, and in a wide variety of other ways, toenter information through the interface features into the clientdevices. The entered information may relate to communications betweentwo communicators or can relate to the setting up, management, andoperation of the technology (for example, a user creating a user accountwith the technology).

In some cases, the servers 116 interact with the client devices to aidcommunications between communicators by having the servers send andreceive information associated with the communications to and from theclient devices. The client devices in turn aid communications betweencommunicators by sending and receiving information to and from theinterface features.

Various kinds of processing of the information can then need to occurwithin the technology 20. The processing can be divided in a widevariety of ways between the servers, the client devices, and theinterface features. In some cases, the client devices may do very littleother than pass information back and forth, while most of the processingeffort is performed at the servers. In other cases, most of theprocessing could be done in the client devices with the servers simplypassing processed information back and forth through the networks to andfrom the client devices. Other arrangements would also be possible.

The servers can be associated with databases 118 that contain a widevariety of information concerning the animals, the humans, the clientdevices, the interface features, behavioral information about animalsand humans, information about communications, user files, accountinformation, and others. The information for the databases can beprovided 124 from the communicators in the form of any sort of artifactsof communications or information associated with communications or withusers of the technology. Information for the databases can also beprovided 119 from the servers based on processing of information thatflows through the technology (for example, interpreted communicationsthat are based on received artifacts can be stored for future use).Information can also be provided from external sources 122. For example,information about the behavior, actions, history, interests, andcommunications of specific animals or humans or of animals or humans ingeneral or with respect to groups, types, species, or categories ofthem, to name a few, can be provided.

A broad range of software, firmware, hardware, or combinations of them,could serve as the client devices. The client devices could be, forexample, any kind of device that is capable of providing or controllingor using the interactive features to conduct any of the interactionswith any of the communicators and capable either directly or indirectlyof communicating information with the servers.

The client devices can include, for example, computers, laptops, padcomputers, mobile devices, mobile telephones, telephones, televisions,music systems, appropriately wired refrigerators, storage containers,doors or gates, pet houses, houses, automobiles, boats, kennels, andveterinary facilities to name a few.

The interface features can be provided through elements that are part ofthe client devices or by interface elements that are connected to,driven by, or controlled by the client devices. The interface featurescan include, for example, loud speakers, headphones, or other soundproducing features, microphones or other sound detectors, GPS features,vibrational or other tactile features, displays, screens, projectors, orother image or video displaying features, fragrance generators, odorgenerators, fragrance detectors, odor detectors, cameras, video cameras,image detectors, and other audiovisual features, switches, latches,locks, lights, fans and other wind creating devices, sunscreens, shades,and a wide variety of other input and output elements that can provideor receive stimuli, information, and other artifacts of communication toand from the animals or humans.

In some instances, the interface features could be represented by anInternet browser running on a computer or handheld device or by a userinterface provided by an app on a mobile phone or other handheld device.

Over a period of time, during the course of the operation and use of thetechnology, a wide variety of information including communications,messages, artifacts, events, behavior, and other aspects of the lives ofanimals and humans will be captured and stored. This information andparts of it can be used for a wide variety of purposes. For example,once a year, say on an anniversary of the first time George and Fluffymet, or on George's birthday, or Fluffy's birthday, or at otherintervals or on other occasions, the technology could automatically (orupon request by George or Fluffy) aggregate from the stored informationan album or a video or a greeting card or another kind of multimediapresentation to be played to George or Fluffy.

Unlike other facilities that may present non-custom sounds, audio,video, or images to a large number of different pets to entertain them,the technology can be used to present highly customized and thereforemuch more interesting presentations to humans and animals. For example,George could select the video of himself from the technology, add aselected picture of himself, and add selected icons or symbols thatFluffy would understand, and have an aggregated presentation using thosecontent elements delivered to Fluffy at any time of the day or night onany day of the year. George could also create a multimedia presentationmade up of artifacts received from Fluffy and other elements forpresentation to himself or to others.

In some cases, the communications 22 between humans and animals that areassisted by the technology 20 can be simple and direct and require nointerpretation. For example, Fluffy's barking in a certain way can be aproduced artifact 19 of a communication that would be clearly understoodby George without assistance or interpretation by the technology. Insuch a case, the interface features and client devices need only detectthe artifact of Fluffy's communication and pass it through the networksto the server, which can then pass it back through the networks to otherinterface features and client devices associated with George. Forexample, a camera on a laptop computer in George's living room cancapture video of Fluffy barking and the video can be passed to theserver and then from the server to George's mobile phone. George may beable to understand what Fluffy is trying to communicate simply bywatching the barking.

In some cases, the artifacts 19 of a communication that a human oranimal is trying to provide to the other may require interpretation bythe interpreters 29 before the content of the communication can beconveyed to the other. For example, the way in which Fluffy paces backand forth at a given time of the day may indicate that Fluffy needs tobe walked. A video that captures Fluffy pacing could then be interpretedby the processes 43 as meaning that Fluffy needs to be walked. Theinterpreted communication 31 could then be provided to George throughanother client device.

Thus, the technology 20 can assist communication between a human andanimal by (1) providing a simple conduit for passing, storing, anddelivering artifacts of communication from one to the other, (2)interpreting artifacts of communication produced by one of them andpassing, storing, and delivering the interpreted communication to theother, (3) receiving a communication from one of them and articulatingartifacts that represent the communication, and delivering the artifactsto the other, or (4) any combination of two or more of those.

The interpretation of artifacts as a communication, the articulation ofartifacts based on a communication, or a combination of them, can bedone by a wide variety of hardware, firmware, or software running on awide variety of devices of the technology 20. In some implementations,the artifacts or communications are passed to the server and theinterpretation and articulation are done at the server. In someimplementations, the artifacts are interpreted or the communicationsarticulated at the client devices and the interpreted communications orthe articulated artifacts are passed to the server. In some cases, someof the processing can be done at client devices and some of theprocessing can be done at the server.

The databases associated with the server (and similar databases orportions of them associated with the client devices) can store a widevariety of different kinds of information useful in the operation of thetechnology 20. For example, users of the technology can register accountinformation about themselves and about animals, such as their pets. Theinformation can be updated from time to time and stored in useraccounts.

A wide variety of information can be registered with the technology. Forexample, George could identify on an online mapping system, such asGoogle maps, the locations of all of the playgrounds that are nearbyGeorge's house and to which Fluffy enjoys going to visit with his dogbuddies. Other dog owners could do the same with respect to their dogs.When one of the owners decides to take her dog to one of theplaygrounds, she could note that fact on the technology and thatinformation could be provided to the other owners (for example through asocial networking site or by e-mail or by text message), and in somerespects to the dogs, that are in the neighborhood of that playground.For example, the technology could tell George that Muffy, a dog buddy ofFluffy, will be at the Lincoln playground at the corner of Main andWilloughby at three o'clock in the afternoon. This message could be sentto George on his mobile phone at the office. George could then replywith a message to cause the technology to tell his daughter, who is athome, to take Fluffy to the Lincoln playground to visit with Muffy at 3PM. In addition, or alternatively, the technology could cause anartifact to be played on the sound system in George's house to attractFluffy to watch the TV monitor. Then a picture of Muffy romping at theLincoln playground, and previously captured, could be displayed toFluffy. Fluffy could then step on a switch to indicate that she wants togo to the Lincoln playground to play with Muffy. This artifact wouldtrigger an alert to George's daughter, who could then take Fluffy to theLincoln playground.

In another example, a dog or cat could be attracted to a location toinitiate interaction by using any kind of device or mechanism that canprovide an artifact that is attractive to the animal. The artifact couldbe an odor as animals are often highly sensitive to odors and attractedby them. A device or mechanism capable of emitting an odor in responseto a command could be provided. (See for example the discussion athttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_scent_technology.) By coordinatingthe emitting of the odor with, for example, the beginning of a videopresentation, the animal could be attracted to watch the videopresentation. In some instances, the device or mechanism could be onethat provides vibrations or other tactile artifacts in response to acommand. Animals are often sensitive to and attracted by sounds andphysical sensations. The initiation of the associated video (or anyother artifact or communication to be presented to the animal) could bedelayed until a sensor determines that the animal is in the vicinity ofthe television or other device that is presenting the artifacts. Thatis, the sequence could be first to command the release of the odor orvibration, next to monitor for the presence of the animal, and finallyto initiate the presentation of the artifacts.

For a given animal and for multiple animals, the databases can storeinformation about and examples of behavior, size, age, species,ownership, location, favorite foods, relationships and friendships amongdifferent animals, and associations of animals with humans, among otherthings.

The databases can include information about communications and artifactsof communication associated with individual animals or groups of animalsand individual humans or groups of humans. The artifacts can beassociated in the database with interpreted communications that relateto the artifacts. Conversely, the database can store communications thatmight occur or that the user might wish to occur and could associatethose communications with artifacts that can be used to convey them.

For example, a standard communication that George might want to conveyto Fluffy would be “You may now go out of the house by stepping on theswitch that opens the gate at the front door.” The related artifactmight be turning on a signal light on the gate. The database could storethe communication and associate it with an action to be performed by aclient device, namely turning on the light. During operation, Georgemight choose, through an interface on a telephone, an entry that said“Fluffy, it's okay to go out of the house.” When that selection isreceived by the server, the server could use the database to associateit with the action of turning on the light. The server would then sendan instruction to a client device at the house causing the light to beturned on.

Conversely, Fluffy may miss George and want to see live streaming videoof George at work. Fluffy could step on the switch three times as anartifact to signal this message. George, at work, could turn on thecamera of his mobile phone and allow it to capture video which wouldthen be streamed to the television and George's living room for Fluffyto watch.

The technology 30 can be used in a wide variety of situations to assisthumans to communicate with animals. We describe several additionalexamples below, but these are merely a few examples of thousands ofpossible cases.

1. A cat owner is at work. The owner has left her cat, Buffy, at homealone for the day. At lunchtime, the cat owner is wondering how Buffy isfaring. The cat owner uses an app on her mobile phone to connect to theserver of the technology 20. The app displays a user interface screen onwhich the cat owner can select “Check in on Buffy.” The server thensends instructions to a client device in the form of a laptop sitting onthe dresser in the room where Buffy is spending the day. Theinstructions cause the laptop to turn on the camera of the laptop andbegin to stream video of Buffy to the server, which then streams it tothe owner's phone. The video shows that Buffy is running around in acircle licking her lips. At the same time, based on previously recordedvideos of Buffy and information previously entered by the owner aboutthe meaning of those recorded videos, the interpreter at the serverdetermines that Buffy is hungry. The server causes the owner's mobilephone to display a message underneath the streaming video that says“Buffy is hungry.” This is the interpreted message from the artifact ofBuffy running around in a circle and licking her lips. The messageconfirms to the owner the owner's guess that Buffy is hungry based onwatching the streaming video. Next, the server can send an instructionto the owner's mobile telephone to cause it to provide a dialogue thatasks “Do you want Buffy to be fed?” If the owner's replies that shedoes, that communication is articulated at the server, using thedatabase, into artifacts to be executed to enable Buffy to be fed. Forexample, the server can send a video back to the laptop to be displayedto Buffy that displays a symbol or a video of the owner or some otherartifact that Buffy has come to know as the signal that she can feedherself from a storage container in the room. In this example, Buffy hasbeen trained or preconditioned to behave in a certain way when certainartifacts are presented to her from client devices. Buffy then goes tothe storage container on the floor of the room which has now beenconditioned by an electronic switch to be accessible. Buffy opens thestorage container and eats the food. The laptop can stream video to theserver and the server can stream the video to the owner's mobile phoneshowing that Buffy is eating.

The technology that we have described can be applied in a wide varietyof ways for the benefit of the animals and humans. Some of theseapplications can be categorized in groups that we will roughly callgames, activities, entertainment, training, or teaching.

As shown in FIG. 6, with respect to training or teaching, the technologythat we have described (including the technology 20 of the kinddiscussed earlier) can provide a universal system or platform 202 thatenables the teaching of an animal 204 through the animal's senses 206(vision, hearing, or smell, for example) to enable the animal to learnvocabulary 208, to learn to respond to commands 210, and to learn about“life” 212, among a wide variety of other lessons. In some cases, theanimal can be taught sign language 214, and deaf or blind animals can betaught to use other senses.

Referring also to FIG. 7, generally, training or teaching 182 caninclude presenting information 184 to the animal 186, determining areaction or behavior 188 of the animal that suggests that what is beingtrained or taught has been learned or partially learned, and providingfeedback (positive or negative) or rewards or punishment (or both) 190when the determined reaction or behavior meets a threshold. In someimplementations, the presentation of the information in the course ofproviding feedback to the animal, including rewards or punishment, isdone using artifacts presented through interface features of clientdevices 218. In some implementations, the determining of the reaction orbehavior the animal is done by sending and receiving artifacts from theanimal through interface features of client devices 218.

For example, in the case of teaching an animal a word or phrase in avocabulary, the word or phrase can be presented to the animal in theform of speech of an owner or handler or other human who is associatedwith the animal, or speech of a human who is not associated with theanimal. The speech can be presented through an audio or video device,including a microphone, a television, or a display screen of a computingdevice, for example, or a wide variety of other devices 218. The speechmay have been pre-recorded or may be delivered in real-time from aremote location where the human is located. In some cases, the word orphrase can be presented in other than speech form, for example, inwriting, or using a token or icon or other graphical representation. Thenon-speech presentation could occur on a display, a light matrix, or anyof a variety of other text and icon presentation devices.

The process of determining the reaction or behavior of the animal inresponse to the presentation of the information includes collectinginformation through the client devices about the behavior or actions 207of the animal. The behavior and actions can include motions, fragrances,noises, and bodily fluids, for example, in a wide variety of otherartifacts. These can be detected using cameras, microphones, fragrancedetectors, and substance detectors as part of the client devices. Oncethe information is collected, the platform can analyze it usingsophisticated mathematical techniques including classifiers, predictivemodeling, statistical analysis, signal processing, and others. Theanalysis can take advantage of stored information that associates animalbehavior and actions with meanings, as discussed earlier.

The feedback presented to the animal can take a variety of forms, forexample, sounds, images, video, food, access to play things, lights,access to locations, and a wide variety of other feedback. These kindsof feedback can be provided through client devices 218, for examplethrough latches on gates or doors, boxes that have controllable lids ordoors, loudspeakers, light displays, and video display devices, to namea few.

In some cases the platform 202 controls and executes the delivery of thetraining, which can be done on a predetermined schedule, or at timestriggered by behavior of the animal, or at times triggered by a human oranother animal. Training can proceed automatically and repetitivelyunder the control of the platform 202. Automatic training can takeadvantage of recorded audio, video, text, graphics, images, and otherkinds of artifacts that are stored on the platform 202. These artifactscan be generated and stored from material provided by a human who isassociated with a particular animal, such as an owner of a, or they canbe generated using professional speakers, actors, graphic designers,writers, and others in stored for use with several or a large number ofanimals. Thus, a human 221 can play a role in the training by providingartifacts such as speech, actions, typed input, commands, and images,for example, that represent training information, determinations made bythe human about the reactions and behavior of the animal, and feedback207, and the control of the platform 202 to do any of those things.

The human can also can receive information associated with the trainingof the animal. For example, the human can receive information indicatingthat training is proceeding, information about the specific trainingbeing given, information about feedback being given to the animal, andinformation about the success of the training, audio, video, and otherartifacts that represent the training (for example, a pet owner canreceive video on his cell phone showing his pet being trained tounderstand the word “ball”). All of this information can be deliveredthrough client devices 219.

The platform 202 can also be used to teach games to an animal, to enablethe animal to play the games either alone or with other animals andhumans either at the same location or at other locations, or to play agame with one or more animals directly without the involvement of ahuman.

We use the term games broadly to include, for example, any activity ofan animal that involves active participation of the animal and isentertaining to the animal and, in some cases, has a goal or objectivethat the animal is to achieve. In some cases, the game is one performedalone by the animal. In some cases, the game can involve interactionwith one or more humans or with one or more other animals.

As shown in FIG. 8, games 226 can involve back and forth interaction 228between and among players 230, 232 (humans and animals), or can involveindividual play by an animal, or can involve play or other interaction234, 235 between the platform 236 and one or more players, or caninvolve all of these. In some cases games are played without anyexternal artifacts or devices, for example, a simple game in which a dogruns successfully to four corners of a playing field. In some casesgames involve game elements 238 such as balls, courts, tokens, bones,water, and a wide variety of other elements.

As shown in FIG. 9, technology 20 can provide a universal system orplatform 302 that enables the playing of games by one or more players304, 306, who can be at the same location or at different locations andcan interact directly at a given location or indirectly through theplatform or a combination of the two. The technology includes clientdevices, user interfaces, and artifacts sent and received, 318, 320,with respect to each of the players. Through the devices, interfaces,and artifacts, the platform can perform a number of operations withrespect to the playing of the game. These include teaching 308 playersabout the game including its rules and rewards, operating as aparticipant in the game 310, keeping score or otherwise trackingactivity and success in the game 312, providing rewards and otherfeedback 314, and reporting 316 to other players and to humans relatedto animals involved in the game on any aspect of the game. Theseactivities can be effected in the form of actions, perceptions, andreactions 307, among other things.

We use the term activity broadly to include, for example, any conduct,performance, or action that engages the animal for a period of time. Anactivity may include a productive activity, such as arts and crafts,painting, or music, that yields a product or an outcome, for example. Anactivity could also involve a theoretically unproductive activity, suchas sleeping. Activities can also include, in the broadest sense, thetraining, games, and entertainment that we describe elsewhere.

As shown in FIG. 10, in the case of a productive activity of the kindthat involves arts and crafts or music 426, the activity can be engagedin by one or more animals 428 with or without the participation of oneor more humans 430. One or more of the animals in one or more of thehumans may all be located at the same place or they may be located atdifferent places and cooperate through the platform 432. Tools andmaterials 434 can be provided at one or more of the locations. Theplatform can provide a variety of features with respect to arts andcrafts activities, including teaching the animal or human about thegame; releasing or activating tools or materials to be available to theanimal for use in the activity; capturing audio, video, images, orgraphics that result from the arts and crafts activity of the animal;providing rewards, praise, or other feedback to the animal; serving asan intermediary between the animal and other animals or humans withrespect to the arts and crafts activity, and others. Functions,operations, and devices analogous to those shown in FIGS. 6 and 9 couldbe used in such activities.

We use the term entertainment in its broadest ordinary sense. As shownin FIG. 11, entertainment 502 of an animal 504 can be facilitated by theplatform 506 (using technology 20 in a mode analogous to the ones shownin FIGS. 6 and 9). In connection with the entertainment, the platformcan notify the animal when the entertainment is available, determinewhether the animal is available for the entertainment, capture audio,video, images, graphics, odors, and other artifacts while the animal isreceiving the entertainment, report to one or more others animals or toone or more humans 510 about the entertainment or the animal's reactionto the entertainment, and a wide variety of other actions.

When the technology is used to teach, train, or otherwise cause theanimal to learn, the subject matter of the teaching, training orlearning can be any of a wide variety of subjects. The animal can betaught skills or knowledge or information or relationships, for example.

As an example, Fluffy could be taught vocabulary. It is believed thatdogs are capable of learning vocabulary that includes as many ashundreds of “words” and concepts. The words can involve things, actions,and other kinds of vocabulary. Typical vocabulary words include come,sit, bring, stay, drink. Concepts could, among a wide variety, “Do youwant to take a walk?”, “Bring the ball.”, “Do you want a treat?”, “Doyou want to watch TV?”

The technology could be used to teach vocabulary in a way that is usefuland effective and can be applied even when the communicator who istraining the animal is at a different location or when there is no humancommunicator engaged in the training. For example, the teaching ofvocabulary and any other kind of teaching or training can be done by thetechnology itself without the participation of a human.

To teach Fluffy the meaning of the word “ball”, the technology canpresent artifacts to Fluffy that could include the presentation ofimages of a ball or of many different kinds of balls through atelevision, a tablet computer display, a cell phone, or any other kindof client device. The artifacts could also include a real ball to whichFluffy is given access, for example, by opening an electricallycontrolled during the box that contains the ball. The artifact couldalso include the presentation of the word ball, and an audio or videorecording of a human speaking the word ball, either alone or in thecontext of the sentence. The client device that is presenting theartifacts can be controlled by the servers to present the artifactsrepeatedly in one or more sessions so that Fluffy comes to associate thespoken word ball or the written word ball or both of them with a ball.

The technology could acquire video or audio clips of Fluffy during thecourse of the training and provide the video or audio in real time to ahuman at a remote location or could store the clips for later use. Thiscan allow a human trainer to determine whether Fluffy is responding in away that indicates that Fluffy is learning to understand the meaning ofthe word ball. In some cases, the technology can analyze Fluffy'sbehavior and reaction to the training instances as a way to determinewhether Fluffy is learning the meaning of the word ball.

The teaching of the word ball could involve a much more activeparticipation of a human, such as Fluffy's owner, George. The artifactspresented to Fluffy could be presented in real-time from a remotelocation. George could release the door of the box containing the ballby tapping on a control presented on the screen of a handheld device.George could watch Fluffy's reaction in real-time from the remotelocation on a screen of the client device.

In some cases, Fluffy's reaction to the training may include barking ormotions that Fluffy begins to use to represent his articulation of theword ball. The technology may analyze audio and video of the timing,volume, frequency, and other characteristics of the barking and thetiming, speed, and trajectory of the motions in order to determinewhether and if so what noises and motions Fluffy uses to express theword ball. Later, this information can be used to respond to Fluffy, forexample, releasing the ball from the box when Fluffy barks in the waythat means ball.

The training can also be of commands or instructions or directives ormore generally sentences that include nouns and verbs. For example,George may want to teach Fluffy (or to have the technology teach Fluffy)the meaning of the command “find the ball”. The training could be doneby repeatedly following a sequence each iteration of which includes someor all of the following steps: the ball is placed or hidden at alocation different from the location of a client device that Fluffynormally watches, for example, George may have placed the ball next tothe washing machine in the laundry while the computer display thatFluffy often watches is in the dining room down the hall. George mayhave placed a number of balls in different location so that when he isaway from the house, a series of iterations of the training exercise canbe conducted. The training may be started automatically by thetechnology or manually by George taking some action on a client deviceat a remote location. For example, George may be on a business trip andwhen he wakes up in his hotel room he might pick up his cell phone, openthe technology's app, and tap the button that says “train Fluffy” andthen the button that says “find the ball”.

When the training iteration is initiated, the technology uses a cameraon a client device to watch for the presence of Fluffy. Once thetechnology determines that Fluffy is in front of the display, it canbegin to present an artifact in the form of a real-time audio or videoclip of George or someone else saying “find the ball, Fluffy”. Thetechnology can then determine if Fluffy has departed, presumably to huntfor the ball. The video can be presented in real-time to George in hishotel room or stored for later playback. If Fluffy finds one of theballs and brings it back to a place where the camera can capture Fluffy,the technology can use image recognition techniques to confirm thatFluffy has brought the ball back. The technology can automatically (orGeorge can manually) then release the door of a box that contains atreat as a reward for Fluffy. The training exercise can be repeated manytimes, but typically would not be repeated too often in a single day inorder not to provide Fluffy with too many treats.

An almost endless variety of things that the animal is capable oflearning can be taught in this way including a wide variety ofvocabulary nouns, adjectives, adverbs, verbs, expressions, concepts, andsentences.

An animal also can be taught lessons about its life as an animal. Theselessons could include lessons about dangers, risks, pleasures,relationships, development, aging, death, health, grooming, sex, theenvironment, time and the passage of time, emotions, and a wide range ofother matters of the kind that relate to living as an animal.

In some cases, for example, the animal can be taught about hazards suchas being followed or attacked or bitten by a larger animal or apredator, the risks of man-made devices such as cars in streets, doorsthat have been unintentionally left open and therefore can allow theanimal to run away, and others. In each of these cases, the training canbe done by presenting artifacts to the animal that illustrate the hazardin a way that would be recognizable are understandable by the animal.

For example, if George wanted to teach Fluffy not to run out into thestreet when a car is coming, George could have the technology presentsvideo and audio examples that show dogs like Fluffy or even spliced-inimages and noises of Fluffy himself running into a street, being hit bya car, and feeling injury. Cameras and microphones can capture thereaction Fluffy to the presentations to determine whether the lesson isbeing understood and learned.

In some cases when hazards have been taught, it would be possible forthe technology to thereafter present a staged opportunity for the animalto put itself into the hazardous situation and the animal to be rewardedfor avoiding it. For example, an electrically operated latch on the doorcould be opened by the technology to allow the door to swing partly openas a way to test Fluffy to see whether he will leave the house and beexposed to the risk that would involve. If Fluffy recognizes the hazardand refrain from leaving the house, a reward could be presented toFluffy by opening the door of a box containing a treat.

It is known that deaf dogs can learn sign language. The technologyoffers a platform for training a deaf dog in understanding signlanguage. Artifacts that can be used in this training could includevideos of human beings making the signs associated with vocabulary,concepts, emotions, sentences, and other meanings. The artifacts couldalso include videos, audio, images, and other artifacts that representthe concept or meaning that is being signed. For example, suppose thatFluffy has a deaf sister, Puffy, owned by Zelda. Suppose Zelda wants toteach puffy to understand sign language for “ball”. Zelda couldprerecord video clips showing herself making the sign for ball. The clipcould then be used as one of the artifacts presented to Puffy eachmorning after Zelda goes to school as part of the sign languagetraining. In some cases, the technology could use signed language videoscreated by models rather than by pet owners themselves.

Similar training could be done for blind animals with respect to spokenlanguage. The artifacts could include live or recorded language spokenby owners of the animals or other humans. The artifacts would alsoinclude representations of the things or actions associated with thespoken language, representations that could be heard or otherwiseunderstood by the animals. For example, suppose that Fluffy has a blindbrother, Duffy owned by Igor. If Igor wanted to train Duffy tounderstand the word ball, Igor could have the technology repeatedly playthe spoken word ball for Duffy while releasing a ball from theelectrically controlled box.

In many cases, the training will work better when the artifacts includeaudio and video clips from the animal's owner and audio and video clipsof objects and actions and environmental conditions that are familiar tothe animal.

Turning to games now, the technology can enable a wide variety of gamesto be played by the animal itself, the animal with other animals, theanimal with one or more humans, and multiple animals with one or morehumans.

A simple example could be a game in which Fluffy raises one of its pawsand touches an object that contains a sensor that is part of one of theclient devices. At first, Fluffy would be taught how to play the game,for example, by rewarding him when he successfully touches the object.Assuming that Fluffy thinks this is a fun game, in the future Fluffycould play the game without requiring a reward other than perhaps theringing of a bell or some ephemeral award. To initiate the game, one ormore artifacts would be presented to Fluffy (video, audio, images) thatFluffy would understand as an invitation to play the game. Thetechnology would activate the sensor and condition it to be ready forFluffy to touch. If Fluffy wanted to play the game, he could simplybegin by touching his paw to the sensor and the ephemeral rewards suchas a bell ringing would be the result. Fluffy could continue to do thisrepeatedly until he got tired of the game. The technology coulddetermine that he had gotten tired by observing that he had left theroom or had stopped playing the game. Video of Fluffy playing the gamecan be captured and streamed in real-time to remote location whereGeorge is playing golf, or can be stored for later use.

The broad range of games that could be handled by the technology includegames that involve objects such as balls, targets, game boards, playingfields, rewards, scoring, teams, and a wide variety of other features.For example, another game could be, in effect, “kick the ball when itcomes by.” Some games can involve play between two animals, for example,Fluffy and Puffy, located at two different locations and played by eachof them interacting with client devices at its own location. Forexample, the game could involve playing with two identical balls, one ateach location. Each dog could see the other playing with its ball andthe play could proceed according to rules that involve both of the dogsin both of the balls.

In some cases, animals such as dogs could be provided with a platformsimilar to Facebook that enables dogs to become friends and to keep upwith the activities of one another. Postings on behalf of each dog couldbe done automatically by the technology using video, audio, images, andother communications that capture activities of the dog, “speech” of thedog, and other information known to the technology. Each of the dogscould enjoy watching the postings of other dogs, including its “friends”and stranger dogs. In some cases, the dog may be taught to provide itsown postings, and to “like” and otherwise reactive the postings of otherdogs. In some cases, an owner or other human associated with the dogcould do the postings and interpret them for a dog.

Returning again to the use of the technology to host activities ofanimals, consider the following examples.

Arts and crafts activities for the animals can be organized and promotedby the technology using features and techniques of the kind discussedearlier. In one example, Fluffy could be taught to paint using realpaint on a real canvas laid on the ground. Demonstrations of how to dothis could be presented for the technology and client devices andfeedback and rewards can also be provided to Fluffy. A very large canvascould be provided for this purpose by George or another human being. Awide range of lessons and trainings could be provided to increase theskill of Fluffy in painting. In some examples, electronically sensitivesurfaces could be used in association with displays (either separatefrom the sensitive surfaces or layered below them) to enable Fluffy topaint electronically. To paint, Fluffy could walk on the sensitivesurface or touch it in various places or lick it to indicate where coloris to be placed on the drawing. All of the steps in this activity couldbe observed by George at a remote location or locally.

Other artistic activities could be taught to and engaged in by animals.For example, Fluffy could be taught to perform a kind of music. In someimplementations, Fluffy could make noises, bark, engage in motions, andotherwise communicate with one of the client devices to indicatesequences of sounds that Fluffy intend to be part of the music he iscreating. The technology could interpret each of the sounds, motions,and other communications, either individually or in combinations asrepresenting sounds of selected pitches, volumes, and tonality. Thetechnology could play it's interpreted sounds back to Fluffy or Georgeor another animal or another human. Fluffy could learn which of hiscommunications is being interpreted as which sound and in that waybecome more active and effective in creating music. The same approachcould be used with multiple animals. For example, Fluffy and Puffy andDuffy could together make music either from a single location, or frommultiple locations.

Yet another activity that could be supervised by the technology would beexercise routines. In order to keep Fluffy in good shape, George couldask the technology to supervise Fluffy's exercise regimes. For example,Fluffy could be taught to run on a treadmill by using the trainingtechniques discussed earlier, and Fluffy's attention to engaging in theintended exercise could be monitored by client devices, tracked, andreported to George, and to Fluffy for that matter. An endless variety ofexercises could be taught, manage, and tracked in this way. Groups ofanimals could be managed in a common exercise program.

The activities hosted by the technology could also include e-mailcommunication from and to an animal. The technology would receiveartifacts from the animal through the client devices, interpret them ascommunications, and use an e-mail server to formulate and send an e-mailbased on the artifacts. The e-mail can be sent always to a predeterminedhuman being, such as the owner of a pet. In some cases, for example,Fluffy could be taught how to address his e-mail to one of his animalfriends or to a human. Conversely for e-mail received by Fluffy from thee-mail server, the text and images of the e-mail can be interpreted orused directly to convey the content of the e-mail to Fluffy and indicatewho originated the e-mail.

A virtually endless range of activities are possible. An animal could betaught to write prose. Or create a presentation. Or read prose. Or graspthe meaning of a presentation.

Animals can also be treated for ailments and have medicines prescribedthrough the medium of the technology. For example, Fluffy could beprovided with physical therapy using the techniques described earlierfollowing an accident. If artifacts of Fluffy detected by and analyzedby the technology indicate that Fluffy is hyperactive or upset aboutsomething, the technology could alert Fluffy's veterinarian. Theartifacts could be presented to the veterinarian with a request for aprescription for Prozac. The veterinarian could write a prescription andhave the medicine delivered to George's house for Fluffy. In some cases,manufacturers of pharmaceuticals and other treatments for animals couldpay for advertising their products either directly to animals throughthe technology, or to humans associated with the animals. For example, adistributor of Prozac could be told that Fluffy is hyperactive and hisowner is George. The distributor can then advertise Prozac for Fluffydirectly to George.

In some implementations, a wide variety of the kinds of features that wehave discussed here, and others, can be used in conjunction withbroadcast and cable presentations of video and other content to animals,such as channels devoted to showing content to pets. Such content istypically presented passively to the animal. The features that we havediscussed here, and others, can provide a sample or very richinteractive component that supplements or enhances the content beingpresented. An example of a technology that would enable more activeinteraction with an animal either separately or in conjunction withother sources of content being presented to the animal is the TV dongleavailable from Google, called Chromecast. The dongle can be attached toa video input port of a television, e.g., the HDMI port. The dongle thencan connect wirelessly through a local Wi-Fi network to the Internet.Local other devices, such as mobile telephones and other mobile devices,can interact with the dongle through the Wi-Fi network. In addition, aremote device, such as a mobile phone of an owner of a pet who islocated in a different place, can communicate through the Internet tothe dongle.

An example of how this might be used is that when a dog is watching achannel devoted to showing content to pets, a camera in the room cancapture the behavior of the dog. As discussed earlier, the video can bestreamed to the dog owner's mobile device in another location. As theowner watches the dog watching a channel devoted to showing content topets, the owner can decide to interact with the dog. For example, theowner can then stream his voice or locally captured video of him,through the mobile phone and then through the dongle to cause the videoor voice to be played to the dog, for example, as an interruption to thea channel devoted to showing content to pets. In some cases, it may bepossible to provide a second smaller window within the large TV frame toshow the video of the owner to the dog at the same time when the dog iswatching a channel devoted to showing content to pets. The interactioncan include commands given by the owner to the dog, gameplaying betweenthe owner and the dog, and a very wide variety of other activities.

Using the technology and platforms that we have described, a widevariety of interactions among animals and between animals and humans ispossible. Among other things, the technology and platforms enable muchricher, continuous, intense, pleasant, and productive relationships tobe established, developed, and grown between individual humans andanimals with which they are associated. In some examples, the technologyand platforms can give great pleasure to the owner of the pet, and tothe pet and can significantly improve the knowledge, behavior, andhappiness of the animal and the human.

Throughout our discussion, although we have referred to communicationsbased on the English language, of course, any language could be themedium of communication, including signed language for the deaf.

Although we provide some specific examples in our discussion, theconcepts that underlie the examples can be applied to a wide variety ofother implementations. For example, the animals need not be dogs or catsor even pets. Any animal capable of some level of communication could beinvolved. The human and animal need not be in different locations andneed not be unable to see or hear each other in some implementations.They can be in the same place and able to see or hear each other andstill be benefited by assisted communication of the kind that wedescribe. In some applications, the assisted communication can bebetween one animal and another animal without a human involved.

In each of these applications of the platform, a wide variety of dataanalytics, including the analysis and analyzing discussed earlier, canbe used in facilitating, operating, and using the games, activities,entertainment, training, or teaching. Data analytics can be used toanalyze data related to artifacts acquired from animals and humans andinformation about populations of animals and humans, and informationavailable on the Internet or from databases about the behavior ofindividual humans and animals or groups of them that may bear on thegame, activities, entertainment, training, or teaching.

Referring to FIG. 12, an activity center 200 provides an animal 202(e.g., Fluffy) with access to one or more types of activities. Theactivity center 200 can be an electronic device, such as a large-sizetablet that displays or otherwise presents content, such as images,video, audio, or other content on a display 204. For instance, a lateraldimension (e.g., a length or width) of the activity center 200 can be atleast about 12 inches, e.g., at least about 24 inches, at least about 36inches, at least about 48 inches, or another size. The display 204 canbe display having a touch sensitive surface. By a touch sensitivesurface, we mean an electronic surface whose operation can be controlledby touch. In some examples, the activity center 200 can be placed on thefloor 201 such that Fluffy 202 can walk, run, or stand on the activitycenter 200 and can watch the content that is displayed or both at thesame time, thus interacting with the touch-sensitive display. In someexamples, Fluffy 202 can select the type of content that is displayed onthe activity center by interacting with the touch-sensitive display,e.g., by interacting with a particular section of the display in orderto activate a certain type of content, as discussed below.

The activity center 200 can keep Fluffy 202 occupied and stimulatedwhile its owner 208 (e.g., George) is unavailable or out of the house.

In some examples, e.g., as shown in FIG. 13, an activity center 250includes a touch sensitive horizontal surface 252 that Fluffy can walk,run, or stand on that can be placed on the floor 201. The activitycenter 250 also includes a display 254 that is separate from the touchsensitive surface. For instance, the display 254 can be positionedvertically (e.g., hung on a wall 256 or standing on a table) and near,such as adjacent, to the touch-sensitive surface 252. The display 254can be, e.g., a computer monitor, a television, or another type ofdisplay. In the following description, we refer to features of theactivity center 200, but these features can also apply to the activitycenter 250 or to other arrangements of an activity center.

The activity center 200 can include electronics and communicationcapabilities to send messages or other information 209 to George 208representative of artifacts of communication from Fluffy, such asrecordings of Fluffy's barking or other noises, still images, audio, orvideo images of Fluffy interacting with the activity center, artworkcreated by Fluffy, or other artifacts of communication, as described ingreater detail below. For instance, Fluffy's noises can be received by amicrophone 216. Images can be captured by one or more cameras (e.g.,cameras 300, 306 shown in FIG. 15). The activity center 200 can alsoreceive messages and other information or commands 207 from George 208representative of artifacts of communication from George to Fluffy, suchas still images, audio, or video images of George, instructions to theactivity center about actions to be taken, content to be captured, orcontent to be presented. The activity center can include speakers 214 toplay sounds.

The activity center 200 can incorporate one or more communicationsdevices 210 to enable the activity center 200 to receive content andother information and commands, transmit content and other information,or both. In some examples, the communications devices 210 can includedevices that enable the activity center 200 to connect to, e.g., theInternet (through a wired or wireless connection), a cellular telephonenetwork, or another type of communications network. For instance, thecommunications devices 210 can enable the messages (we sometimes use theterm messages broadly to include, for example, messages, instructions,commands, or other information) 207, 209 to be sent to or from George orFluffy. In some examples, the communications devices 210 can includedevices that enable the activity center 200 to receive radio signals,broadcast or cable television signals, streaming video or music (e.g.,from Netflix™, Pandora™, or other sources of streaming video or music),or other types of video or audio signals. For instance, thecommunications devices 210 can include a Chromecast™ device or anothertype of streaming device. In some examples, the communications devices210 can include devices that enable the activity center 200 tocommunicate with a client device 211, such as a computer, laptop, padcomputer, mobile device, mobile telephone, telephone, television, musicsystem, appropriately wired refrigerator, storage container, door orgate, pet house, house, automobile, boat, kennel, or and veterinaryfacility to name a few. For instance, the communications devices 210 caninclude Bluetooth™-enabled devices.

The display 204 can be arranged in one or more sections, each section orgroups of sections providing a different activity for Fluffy 202. In theexample of FIG. 12, the display 204 is divided into six sections 206a-206 f (which we sometimes refer to collectively as sections 206);however, the display 204 can be divided into more or fewer sections orgroups of sections. The activities accessible to Fluffy 202 through thesections 206 of the display 204 can include, e.g., animal television,animal social media, owner resources, arts activities, music activities,play, training, or other activities, or a combination of any two or moreof them. In the example of FIG. 12, section 206 a provides animaltelevision, section 206 b provides animal social media, section 206 cprovides owner resources, section 206 d provides arts and craftsactivities, section 206 e provides music, and section 206 f providesplay. Each section 206 can be activated by a selection, e.g., a touch onthe section, e.g., by Fluffy or George. For instance, Fluffy 202 canactivate a particular section 206 of the display 204 by touching thesection 206, e.g., by stepping or walking on the section 206 (e.g.,anywhere on the section 206 or on a particular part of the section 206),tapping her paw on the section 206, scratching the section 206, lickingthe section 206, or touching the section 206 in another way, or acombination of any two or more of them. For instance, if Fluffy 202wants to watch television, she can walk onto section 206 a; if Fluffy202 wants to create a work of art, she can walk onto section 206 d. Insome examples, Fluffy 202 can activate a particular section 206 byinteracting with another device, such as by pushing a button remote fromthe activity center 200, interacting with another computing device, orin another way. In some examples, George can remotely control whichsection 206 of the display 204 is activated, e.g., by sending a messageto the activity center 200, by accessing a user interface on anotherdevice (e.g., a personal computer or a mobile computing device), byremotely accessing a control interface of the activity center 200 usinganother device (e.g., a personal computer or a mobile computing device)that communicates with the activity center 200, or in another way.

In some examples, the number of sections 206 is set by default, e.g., bythe software of the activity center 200. The sections can be square orrectangular but need not be square or rectangular and can be othershapes. In some examples, a single, large display 204 is arrangedelectronically into sections 206, with each section corresponding to aregion of the display 204. In some examples, the activity center can beassembled from multiple, smaller displays, each of which corresponds toa section 206. The particular section 206 in which each activity islocated can be fixed so that Fluffy 202 can learn which section of thedisplay 204 to touch in order to activate a desired activity. In someexamples, George 208 can specify the number of sections 206, theactivity provided by each section, or both, e.g., by selecting one ormore of the activities offered by activity center 200 to which George208 wants Fluffy 202 to have access. In some examples, George canspecify a time of day at which a particular activity can be provided.For instance, George may want Fluffy to have access only to activeactivities, such as arts and crafts, music, play, or training, in themorning, and may want Fluffy to have access to more passive activities,such as animal television or animal social media, in the afternoon.George can specify activities to activate in real time or can specify aschedule of activities, e.g., by sending a message to the activitycenter 200, by accessing a user interface on another device, by remotelyaccessing a control interface of the activity center 200 using anotherdevice, or in another way.

When Fluffy 202 steps on or otherwise selects section 206 a (in thisexample), animal television is turned on. Animal television can be abroadcast or cable television channel or streaming content that includescontent that is geared toward animals, such as television programmingfor dogs. In some examples, the programming is displayed directed on thedisplay 204. In some examples, Fluffy's selection of section 206 acauses the activity center 200 to send a command to a television 212 oranother display device such that the programming can be displayed on thetelevision 212 or other display device.

When Fluffy 202 steps on or otherwise selects section 206 b (in thisexample), animal social media is activated. Animal social media caninclude video, images, or sounds of Fluffy, Fluffy's friends (e.g.,other animals Fluffy may recognize, such as a neighbor's dog), George,other people Fluffy may recognize (e.g., other family members orneighbors), Fluffy's favorite places, or other content, or a combinationof any two or more of them. In some examples, the social media contentis displayed directed on the display 204. In some examples, Fluffy'sselection of section 206 a causes the activity center 200 to send acommand to the television 212 or another display device such that thesocial media content can be displayed on the television 212 or otherdisplay device.

When Fluffy 202 steps on or otherwise selects section 206 c (in thisexample), owner resources are activated. Owner resources can includecontent geared toward an animal owner, such as radio or televisionprogramming geared toward an animal owner, training tips, notificationsof local special events, coupons, advertisements for animal supplystores, information about medications or veterinarians, or other contentgeared toward an animal owner, or a combination of any two or more ofthem. In some examples, the owner resources are displayed directly onthe display 204. In some examples, Fluffy's selection of section 206 acauses the activity center 200 to send a command to the television 212or another display device such that the owner resources can be displayedon the television 212 or other display device. In some examples, theowner resources displayed in section 206 c can be related to contentthat Fluffy is or has interacted with on the display 204. For instance,if Fluffy repeatedly watched a video of a dog bone earlier in the day,an advertisement for dog bones can be displayed to George when the ownerresources section 206 c is activated.

When Fluffy 202 steps on or otherwise selects section 206 d (in thisexample), arts and crafts activities, such as electronic painting, areactivated. For instance, to paint, Fluffy could walk on, pat, lick,scratch, or otherwise touch the display 204 to create an electronicpainting. In some examples, Fluffy's painting can be formed based on thelocations of Fluffy's touch such that the painting is a trail of whereFluffy walked, patted, licked, scratched, or otherwise touched thedisplay. In some examples, the painting can also reflect pressure (e.g.,how hard Fluffy touched the display), type of motion (e.g., whether thetouch was a walk, pat, lick, scratch, or another type of touch), speed(e.g., whether Fluffy was sluggish or moving quickly), or otherinformation about Fluffy's interaction with the display 204. Forinstance, pressure, type of motion, speed, or other information can bereflected in colors (e.g., shade or brightness of color, e.g., greaterpressure can be depicted as a brighter color, each type of motion can bedepicted as a different color), dimensionality (e.g., athree-dimensional representation of Fluffy's painting can reflectpressure in the height of the three-dimensional features), or in anotherway. Fluffy's painting can be a single color or multicolored. The colorsof Fluffy's painting can be randomly assigned, assigned by positionwithin the art activity section 206 d, assigned based on Fluffy'sinteraction with the display 204 as discussed above, other assigned inanother way. In some examples, Fluffy can paint on the display 204 andthe painting can be displayed elsewhere, such as on another localcomputing device, the television, or George's personal computer, or onanother display.

The activity center 200 can save Fluffy's work of art to a local memory218 or a remote storage 220 (e.g., George's personal computer,cloud-based storage, or another type of remote storage). For instance,the activity center 200 can save Fluffy's work of art after Fluffy hasworked on the art activity for a certain amount of time (e.g., 2minutes, 5 minutes, 10 minutes, or another amount of time), after thesection 206 d is a certain percentage filled with Fluffy's painting(e.g., 50%, 60%, 70%, 80%, 90%, or 100%, or another amount), or based onone or more other criteria. The activity center 200 can send George adigital representation of Fluffy's work of art, such as a picture file,or a link to the digital representation, such as a link to a public orprivate remote storage. For instance, the activity center 200 can send amessage (e.g., an email message, a short message service (SMS) message,a voice mail message, a social network message, or another type ofmessage) to George with the digital representation or the link.

When Fluffy 202 steps on or otherwise selects section 206 e (in thisexample), music activities are activated. The music activities canenable Fluffy to perform a kind of music. For instance, Fluffy couldmake noises, bark, or make other sounds that are received by themicrophone 216. In some examples, the activity center can interpret eachof Fluffy's sounds, either individually or in combinations asrepresenting sounds of selected pitches, volumes, and tonality, asdescribed above, to create music. In some examples, Fluffy's actualsounds (e.g., barking, growling, or other dog sounds) can besuperimposed over a pre-recorded song. The pre-recorded song can beselected randomly, selected based on the time of day (e.g., ahigh-energy song in the morning, a soothing song in the evening),selected based on Fluffy's mood as determined by her sounds or her levelof interaction with the activity center 200 or both, or selected basedon another criteria. Other sounds can also be superimposed over thepre-recorded song along with Fluffy's sounds, such as George's voice,sounds from other animals (e.g., Fluffy's friends), ambient noise thatFluffy may recognize, or other sounds.

In some examples, Fluffy's “music” can be played back automatically oraccording to an action by Fluffy, such as when Fluffy walks on a certainpart of the display 204 or when Fluffy does a certain type ofinteraction with the display 204, such as a lick, tap, scratch, or othertype of interaction. Fluffy's sounds, the pre-recorded song, or othersounds can be played by the speakers 214 of the activity center 200 orby speakers of another device, such as another local computing device,the television, or George's personal computer, or by speakers of anotherdevice.

The activity center 200 can save Fluffy's work of music to local memory218 or to remote storage 220. For instance, the activity center 200 cansave Fluffy's work of music after Fluffy has worked on the musicactivity for a certain amount of time (e.g., 2 minutes, 5 minutes, 10minutes, or another amount of time) or based on one or more othercriteria. The activity center 200 can send George a digitalrepresentation of Fluffy's work of music, such as an audio file, or alink to the digital representation, such as a link to a public orprivate remote storage. For instance, the activity center 200 can send amessage (e.g., an email message, a short message service (SMS) message,a voice mail message, a social network message, or another type ofmessage) to George with the digital representation or the link.

When Fluffy 202 steps on or otherwise selects section 206 f (in thisexample), play activities are activated. Play activities can include,e.g., the games described above. Training activities (which are notprovided by a section in this example) can include, e.g., the trainingactivities described above, such as teaching vocabulary, life lessons,or other training topics.

Other activities not described here can also be provided by one or moreof the sections 206 of the activity center 200.

In some examples, one or more activities can be provided by default whenFluffy is not actively interacting with the activity center 200. Forinstance, when Fluffy has not touched the activity center 200 for morethan a certain amount of time (e.g., 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes,or another amount of time), one of the activities can be activated, suchas the animal television activity, the animal social media activity, oranother activity. When Fluffy next touches the activity center 200, thedefault activity is stopped and the activity selected by Fluffy isactivated.

In some examples, the activity center 200 can include a treat door 222that can be opened to give Fluffy 202 access to a treat 224 storedbehind the treat door 222 (e.g., in a hollow within the activity center200). For instance, an electronically operated latch 221 on the treatdoor 222 can be activated to open the treat door 222, allowing Fluffy toaccess the treat 224. In some examples, George can send a command to theactivity center 200 to open the treat door 222, e.g., if he watchesFluffy do something good, if he likes the artwork or music created byFluffy, or for another reason. In some examples, the activity center 200can determine whether to open the treat door 222, e.g., based onFluffy's performance during an activity. For instance, the activitycenter 200 may be programmed to open the treat door 222 if Fluffyfocuses on a single activity for a certain amount of time (e.g., 5minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes, or another time), if Fluffy performswell on the training activity, or for another reason.

In some examples, the activity center 200 can have a scent box 226inside of which (e.g., in a hollow within the activity center) a scentedartifact 225, such as a device or mechanism capable of emitting an odorin response to a command, can be placed. (See for example the discussionat http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_scent_technology.) The scentedartifact can be activated to emit its odor to alert Fluffy that theactivity center 200 is turned on, that a particular activity is active(e.g., that the arts activity is active), that a particular time of dayis approaching (e.g., that it is almost the end of the day and Georgewill be home soon), or to alert Fluffy of another status. A differentodor can be used for each alert. For instance, a chicken liver odor mayalert Fluffy that the arts activity is active, a beef odor may alertFluffy that it is lunch time, and the odor of fresh dirt may alertFluffy that George will be home soon to take Fluffy for a walk. In someexamples, the time at which a particular odor is emitted can bespecified in advance, e.g., George can program the odor schedule beforehe leaves for work in the morning. In some examples, George can send acommand to the activity center 200 to cause a particular odor to beemitted, e.g., if George is planning to come home early.

In some examples, the activity center 200 can have a health module 228that can measure one or more parameters indicative of a physical statusof Fluffy. For instance, the health module 228 can measure Fluffy'sheart rate, weight, muscle density, or other parameters. In someexamples, the health module 228 can receive data from a wearable monitor230, such as a heart rate monitor, worn by Fluffy. The activity center200 can use the parameters measured by the health module 228 to inferFluffy's current activity level (e.g., whether Fluffy is active, calm,lethargic, or acting in another way), to track Fluffy's health overtime, or both.

Referring to FIG. 14A, as seen in a top view and a side view,respectively, of the activity center 200, in some examples, a cameraassembly 300 is positioned near the activity center 200 to recordFluffy's interactions with the activity center 200. One or more still orvideo cameras 302 are mounted on the camera assembly. In the exampleshown, the camera assembly 300 includes three video cameras 302 a, 302b, 302 c mounted each at a different angle, however, more or fewercameras can also be used. The camera assembly 300 can be movably mountedon a base 304 such that the camera assembly 300 can revolve around theactivity center 200. For instance, the base can have a track 305 onwhich the camera assembly 300 is mounted such that the camera assembly300 can travel around the circumference of the base 304.

Referring also to FIG. 14B, as seen in a side view of the activitycenter 200, in some examples, the surface of the display 204 of theactivity center 200 is transparent or translucent and a bottom camera306 is positioned under the display 204 to take still or video images ofFluffy from below. Together, the cameras 302 mounted on the cameraassembly and the bottom camera 306 provide four perspectives of Fluffyinteracting with the activity center 200 and can be used to captureinformation that can be used to generate three-dimensional (3D) still orvideo images of Fluffy.

In some examples, video images of Fluffy interacting with the activitycenter 200 can be streamed to George in real time. For instance, whenFluffy interacts with the arts and crafts activity or the musicactivity, the activity center 200 can send a message to George to alerthim that streaming video of Fluffy is available for viewing.

In some examples, Fluffy can wear a wearable camera, such as a GoPro®camera, that can acquire additional still or video images of Fluffy asshe interacts with the activity center or as she goes about otheractivities. The wearable camera can record images, stream images, orboth when Fluffy does something to activate the camera, such as whenFluffy starts interacting with a particular section of the activitycenter 200 (e.g., the arts and crafts activity or the music activity),when Fluffy barks or growls, when Fluffy's heart rate exceeds athreshold level, or based on one or more other criteria. In someexamples, the wearable camera can cause a message to be sent to Georgewhen the camera is activated; in some examples, the wearable camera canalert the activity center 200 that it has been activated and theactivity center 200 can send a message to George.

Referring to FIG. 15, in some examples, a printing system 400 can beused to print two-dimensional (2D) or 3D representations of Fluffyinteracting with the activity center 200. The printing system 400 caninclude a 2D printer 402, such as an ink jet printer, a laser printer, aplotter, or another type of printer, a 3D printer 404, or both. Theprinting system 400 can be in wired or wireless communication with theactivity center 200. Images acquired by one or more of the cameras 302,306 can be sent to the printing system 400 for printing. The printingsystem 400 can also print a work of art created by Fluffy. For instance,the 2D printer 402 can print a 2D, color version 406 of a paintingFluffy created and the 3D printer 404 can print a 3D statue 408 ofFluffy creating the painting, thus creating a work of art that depictsFluffy creating her own art.

In some examples, the activity center 200 activates the printing system400 automatically. For instance, the activity center 200 can cause theprinting system 400 to print a 2D color version of Fluffy's painting anda 3D statue of Fluffy creating that painting based on one or morecriteria, such as after Fluffy has worked on the art activity for acertain amount of time (e.g., 2 minutes, 5 minutes, 10 minutes, oranother amount of time), after the section 206 d is a certain percentagefilled with Fluffy's painting (e.g., 50%, 60%, 70%, 80%, 90%, or 100%,or another amount), or based on one or more other criteria. In someexamples, the printing system 400 can be activated manually by George.For instance, when George receives a message including a work of artthat he particularly likes or showing Fluffy in a particularly cutepose, he may send a command to activate the printing system 400.

Other implementations are within the scope of the following claims.

1. A system comprising: a touch-sensitive surface; a camera mounted tobe movable relative to the touch-sensitive surface to acquire an imageof an animal interacting with the touch-sensitive surface; a processorcoupled to a memory, the processor and memory configured to: cause eachof multiple sections of the display screen to be associated with acorresponding activity in which the animal can engage; detect aselection of one of the multiple sections of the touch-sensitivesurface; and enable the activity associated with the selected section ofthe touch-sensitive surface.
 2. The system of claim 1, in which thetouch-sensitive surface comprises a display screen.
 3. The system ofclaim 1, comprising a display for displaying content associated with theactivity.
 4. The system of claim 1, comprising a mount disposed aroundat least some of the display screen, the camera mounted on the mount. 5.The system of claim 1, in which the activity comprises creating an itemof visual art.
 6. The system of claim 5, in which the processor andmemory are configured to enable the animal to interact with thetouch-sensitive surface to indicate elements of the visual art beingcreated.
 7. The system of claim 6, in which the processor and memory areconfigured to generate the visual art based on a position of the animalon the touch-sensitive surface, a type of touch of the animal on thetouch-sensitive surface, a pressure of the animal's touch on thetouch-sensitive surface, or a combination of any two or more of them. 8.The system of claim 1, in which the activity comprises creating a workof music.
 9. The system of claim 8, in which the processor and memoryare configured to combine sounds generated by the animal with apreviously created audio file.
 10. The system of claim 1, in which theactivity comprises watching a video or listening to audio.
 11. Thesystem of claim 1, in which the activity comprises playing.
 12. Thesystem of claim 1, in which the activity comprises training the animal.13. The system of claim 1, in which the activity comprises an activitydirected to a person associated with the animal.
 14. The system of claim1, in which the touch-sensitive surface is sized such that the animalcan select one of the multiple sections by walking on thetouch-sensitive surface.
 15. The system of claim 1, comprising a bottomcamera disposed below the touch-sensitive surface.
 16. The system ofclaim 1, in which the processor and memory are configured to send, to aprinter, data representative of an image of the animal interacting withthe touch-sensitive surface, data representative of an image of an itemof visual art created by the animal's interaction with thetouch-sensitive surface, or both.
 17. The system of claim 16, in whichthe processor and memory are configured to determine, based on theanimal's interaction with the touch-sensitive surface, when to send thedata to the printer.
 18. The system of claim 17, in which thedetermination is made based on an amount of time the animal interactedwith the touch-sensitive surface, a degree to which the animal completedthe activity, or both.
 19. The system of claim 16, in which the datacomprise information sufficient to print a two-dimensionalrepresentation of the animal or the item of visual art.
 20. The systemof claim 16, in which the data comprise information sufficient to printa three-dimensional representation of the animal or the item of visualart.
 21. The system of claim 1, in which the processor and memory areconfigured to send, to a computing device, data representative of animage of the animal interacting with the touch-sensitive surface, datarepresentative of an image of an item of visual art created by theanimal's interaction with the touch-sensitive surface, or both.
 22. Thesystem of claim 21, in which the processor and memory are configured todetermine, based on the animal's interaction with the touch-sensitivesurface, when to send the data to the computing device.
 23. The systemof claim 1, in which the processor and memory are configured to monitora physical characteristic of the animal.
 24. A method comprising: causeeach of multiple sections of a touch-sensitive surface to be associatedwith a corresponding activity of an animal; detect a selection of one ofthe multiple sections of the touch-sensitive surface; activate theactivity associated with the selected section of the touch-sensitivesurface; and acquiring multiple images of the animal interacting withthe touch-sensitive surface during the activated activity.
 25. Themethod of claim 24, comprising displaying content associated with theactivity on a display screen associated with the touch-sensitivesurface.
 26. The method of claim 25, in which the touch-sensitivesurface comprises the display screen.
 27. The method of claim 24, inwhich detecting a selection of the one of the multiple sectionscomprises detecting an interaction of the animal with thetouch-sensitive surface.
 28. The method of claim 24, comprising sending,to a printer, data representative of an image of the animal interactingwith the touch-sensitive screen, data representative of an image of anitem of visual art created by the animal during the activated activity,or both.
 29. The method of claim 28, comprising determining when to sendthe data to the printer based on the animal's interaction with thetouch-sensitive surface.
 30. The method of claim 28, in which the datacomprise information sufficient to print a three-dimensionalrepresentation of the animal or the item of visual art.